The “Danubeparks” co-operation

Crossing Europe along a 2800 km long stretch and connecting nine countries, the Danube is Europe’s second longest river. Although the regulation works during the past centuries have greatly reduced the naturalness of the river, there are still a number of protected natural sites preserving what has survived from the original flora, fauna and riverine terrain morphological features. The role of these protected areas is to demonstrate the extremely rich biological, morphological and geological complexity of the Danube and its floodplain to people of future generations. This common mission is what brought to the surface the need for Danubian protected areas to formulate a project in which they can further deepen their co-operation and can jointly act against factors threatening the wildlife of the Danube, its floodplain and its natural values. The “Danubeparks” project proposal was accepted, the project is now up and running as part of a transnational scheme promoting the collaboration of South-East-European EU member states and partner countries, financed by the European Union. Either as partners or as observer partners, protected areas from each of the countries along the Danube have a representative in Danubeparks. White-tailed eagle protection is one of the important activities implemented as part of the project, as this large-bodied, spectacular bird of prey occurs almost all along the Danube, and as such its conservation and research can symbolise co-operation activities carried out along the river.